People around the world drink more than 400 billion cups of coffee every year, making coffee one of the most popular beverages. But no matter how many varieties exist or how different the brewing methods are, the pleasure of good coffee and the disappointment of bad coffee are often only a sip apart. This article is compiled from COSTA Perfect Coffee Family, systematically sorting out the key points for judging coffee quality—from coffee bean ratio, freshness, extraction timing, handcrafting, volume, appearance, aroma, and temperature to taste—and providing the “Coffee Golden Rules” for espresso, cappuccino, and latte, helping coffee lovers quickly identify a good cup of coffee when ordering in daily life.
According to statistics, global coffee consumption exceeds 400 billion cups each year, keeping coffee firmly among the world’s most favored beverages. The coffee available on the market is incredibly diverse, with different flavor profiles and brewing methods, but one thing is common: an excellent cup of coffee brings pleasure, while a bad cup only disappoints.
The huge gap in quality can often be noticed with just one small sip. So how exactly should you judge whether a cup of coffee is good or bad?
The following content comes from COSTA Perfect Coffee Family, helping you comfortably enjoy pleasant coffee moments.
Coffee beans:
The first step to good coffee is having high-quality coffee beans. COSTA selects premium coffee beans and uniquely blends 6 parts Arabica with 1 part Robusta to create the brand’s exclusive coffee bean ratio—Mocha Italia. Among them, Arabica beans bring fruity acidity, alluring aroma, and a long finish; Robusta beans contribute a rich mouthfeel and the all-important coffee crema.
Top-level freshness:
Coffee is a natural crop that grows seasonally. Ripe coffee cherries are green and only become brown coffee beans after roasting. To make good coffee, first, the coffee cherries used for roasting must be freshly harvested; second, each bag of coffee beans should be used up as soon as possible after opening, and coffee grounds must also be freshly ground.
It all depends on timing:
Espresso is the base of all other COSTA coffees, and its optimal extraction time is 20 to 30 seconds. If the time is too long, bitterness becomes noticeably stronger; if the time is too short, the layering of mouthfeel, aroma, and aftertaste will all be lacking.
Meticulous handcrafting:
Take a closer look at the equipment in a coffee shop. Good coffee is made by coffee quality specialists step by step by hand, and it absolutely cannot be replaced by a fully automatic coffee machine that produces a cup at the push of a button. A perfect espresso requires an experienced and focused barista to control the process and ensure precise extraction. Pay attention to how committed the barista is to their work. If you can see every step of coffee preparation with your own eyes, I believe you will have a better experience. An excellent barista can respond to customers’ different coffee needs; a machine cannot.
Volume:
Espresso is distilled from coffee grounds, and the optimal volume is 25 to 30 ml, served in a white porcelain conical cup. If the cup opening is too large, the coffee will cool faster. When less is distilled, the concentration is higher, and it is called Ristretto; when more is distilled, the purity becomes lighter and the taste is closer to Americano.
Appearance:
The reddish-brown foam on the surface of espresso is also called coffee crema, and this layer of crema can reflect coffee quality to a large extent. The foam of high-quality coffee should be thick, smooth, glossy, and full of the aroma of coffee crema. The foam color should not be too dark or too light: a light color indicates that hot water contacted the coffee grounds too quickly and the flavor concentration is insufficient; a dark brown color indicates that it was too slow and will increase bitterness. The crema thickness should fully cover the coffee beneath, with a thick, tight texture, and it should be able to be pushed with a coffee spoon.
The milk used in cappuccino should be steamed and frothed, and after the milk foam sinks to the bottom of the cup, it rises to the rim. In addition, when you put a coffee spoon into the bottom of the cup, you should be able to see the layered sediment formed by the espresso.
Latte is divided into three layers from top to bottom: 1 cm of milk foam, hot milk, and espresso poured through the milk and milk foam into the bottom of the cup.
A successful aroma:
Truly high-quality espresso has an extremely enticing aroma. You can smell the sweet-and-sour notes of fresh fruit, slight bitterness, and sometimes a little spiciness and forest-like fragrance. Stale, low-quality, or pre-ground coffee beans will only result in finished coffee with insufficient aroma.
Temperature:
Once distilled, espresso should be at 75 to 80 degrees Celsius; the coffee cup used to hold it needs to be preheated to 35 to 40 degrees Celsius in advance. If the distillation temperature is too high, the coffee crema will be burned and the taste will be bitter; if the temperature is too low, the aroma cannot be fully released. Espresso should be drunk within 2 minutes after distillation is completed.
Taste:
The ultimate test, of course, is tasting. Espresso has a strong aroma with fruity notes, a rich mouthfeel like melted chocolate, and a long aftertaste. Only on the basis of this high-quality espresso can you better choose other coffee flavors you like.
Rules:
To make it easier for consumers to identify the quality of the most common coffees, COSTA coffee experts have summarized a series of “Coffee Golden Rules” for judging coffee quality. These rules are simple and practical. By observing only the coffee’s appearance, ingredient ratio, aroma, temperature, and preparation process, you can judge whether a cup of coffee is good or bad and thereby stay away from bad coffee:
Espresso:
A 25-30 ml cup of espresso, with an extraction time of 20-30 seconds
There is an even layer of coffee bean crema on the surface; there is red/brown foam on top, and the foam is thick and glossy
The surface crema accounts for 10% of the entire espresso, with a rich aroma
Each cup is made fresh on site
Errors:
Made entirely automatically by the coffee machine, with no manual steps
No coffee bean crema or an uneven crema layer, with insufficient aroma
A light crema color indicates that the extraction time was too short and the coffee aroma was not fully released; a color that is too dark, appearing deep brown, indicates over-extraction with a bitter taste, or that the coffee was not freshly made
A burnt rubber smell indicates that the proportion of Robusta coffee is too high, causing an excessive caffeine component that affects the taste
Particles settling at the bottom of the coffee cup indicate that the barista did not thoroughly clean the filter
Cappuccino:
Based on high-quality espresso
About 150 ml per cup, served in a shallow-bottomed flared cup
The aroma of the espresso can pass through the milky fragrance and be clearly distinguishable
There is brown coffee bean crema, closely surrounding the rim of the cup against the milk foam
The milk foam is soft and fine. If it is not stirred, the milk foam layer can remain down to the bottom of the cup
Errors:
The milk is overheated until it has a burnt smell, bitter and unpleasant
The milk is too cold, too much, or hard to distinguish from a latte
Latte:
Based on high-quality espresso
About 150 ml per cup, with a milk-to-coffee ratio of about 3:1
Use fresh whole milk, and use a metal container to heat the milk
The milk foam is fine and bright, with no visible bubbles; the texture is even, and the thicker the better
Errors:
The milk foam is over-steamed and full of bubbles
The milk is overheated, bitter and unpleasant
COSTA has always focused on providing high-quality coffee. Since the brand was born in 1971, its iconic Mocha Italia coffee bean ratio and slow roasting process have continued to this day, bringing COSTA a highly recognizable rich flavor. At the same time, every barista in COSTA stores receives systematic training from senior coffee experts, thereby ensuring that every cup of COSTA coffee has a consistent taste, is pure and authentic, and can withstand the test of the “Coffee Golden Rules.”
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
